Bonkers Blog June 2017

As
anyone attempting to get to London this weekend will discover the hard way,
there are no train services from any of Bexley’s railways stations to Waterloo East and Charing Cross.

Those who travel on the North Kent line through Abbey Wood and Woolwich can look
forward to that being a permanent and daily feature if the proposed ThamesLink service
to Luton comes to pass. There will be no simple way to reach Blackheath or Lewisham by train
which is the sort of madness that one has come to expect from the Train Operating Companies.

They appear to have forgotten that train services
are supposed to serve passengers and not be regarded as an inconvenient nuisance.

Will the madness ever stop? Possibly not.

Network Rail’s
South East Route Study suggests that a major rebuild of Charing Cross could
see the end of Waterloo East.

Its curved platforms and three exit points make it an expensive station to
staff. It would be so much easier to make passengers from the South East laden with suitcases walk
half a mile from the southern tip of an extended Charing Cross in order to interchange with South Western mainline trains.
And where would they go for free toilet facilities?

The Route Study is an enormously long read full of technical diagrams; probably
only of great interest to train enthusiasts, which is why the
controversial proposals are hidden away on Page 60 of the 77 page document.